Microsoft Word - 9781409972051Text.doc, page 13
pleasant light, and in a little time the vessel shot out of the tunnel
into an open river, and then a wonderful sight burst upon the view
of the astonished beholder. Looking behind he noticed that the exit
of the tunnel was considerably less than the entrance. Long, reddish-
looking grass covered the rocks, and as this was the first vegetation
he had seen since leaving the upper world he was no less surprised
than grateful. A sloping bank on each side of the river was covered
with the richest verdure that mortal eyes had ever seen. The most
beautiful tree ferns waved gracefully in a gentle breeze. Tall palms
shot up straight, and round their trunks twined creepers that were
loaded with flowers, the colours of which were of the most brilliant
hues. Far overhead floated soft and delicately- tinted electric clouds,
and not only did they send down great heat, but their light was
intense.
Flitting about amongst the grass and ferns were millions of tiny
insects of a species new to Flin. But it almost seemed as if the gems
from some jeweller’s shop had taken wings and were flying through
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the air. Strange birds, too, whose plumage rivalled the rainbow tints,
flew from tree to tree. And now and again Flin noticed the bright
eyes and head of some curious animal protruding from among the
luxuriant foliage. Strange fruits and flowers were everywhere. No
adequate notion can be conveyed of the wealth of colour which
everywhere greeted the eye. But all things seemed to be in perfect
harmony. There was not a line that wanted softening or a colour that
was misplaced. It was a veritable Paradise, and Flin Flon’s joy was
boundless as he realised that his daring was at length rewarded, and
he had actually reached an inner world. His goal was gained; or, at
anyrate, he had so far succeeded in proving that his theory of a
central world was correct. And he was then looking upon tropical
beauties before which those of the upper earth must pale. As he
gazed and gazed, feeling absolutely intoxicated with the wealth of
glory that surrounded him, he asked himself if there could be such a
wondrous land as this without inhabitants. He almost trembled with
excitement when he thought of it. Was he destined to see a race of
beings different from those with whom he was allied? He felt
strangely agitated. And perhaps he was moved too by a little
conscious pride. When he had first broached the subject of this
journey into the interior of the world, men had laughed at him and
called him mad, and a fool, and a blind enthusiast. But he had
meekly borne all that, as a pioneer in knowledge should, for it is one
of the inherent principles of human nature that men should scoff at
what they do not comprehend. But now, as Mr. Flonatin saw that he
had successfully solved the great problem that had puzzled the
learned in all ages, he certainly felt a little proud, and he just as
certainly did not entertain any great bitterness against his fellows of
the upper world. Mr. Flonatin was a fair and honest man, and he felt
it would be better to live even in solitude in that world he had
succeeded in reaching, than return to one where
“Man’s inhumanity to man made countless thousands mourn.”
But he did not continue long in this frame of mind, for it was
impossible for him to be selfish. He recognised the duty he owed to
society, and that he had no right to withhold any information that
would tend to let in light upon the ignorance of his fellows. If it were
possible to return after his labours of exploration were completed, he
would do so, and lay a faithful record of the wonders he had learnt
before the world. And he trusted that it would at least be a lesson to
sceptics and doubters, who would not see with other men’s eyes, or
hear with other men’s ears. Further, he hoped that when he had
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made his discoveries known, those who had been so ready to throw
stones at him might feel humbled, and act with greater mercy in the
future.
Mr Flonatin continued his journey until the river broadened out into
a sort of lagoon, and here in a beautiful little bay overhung with
luxuriant foliage he determined to moor his vessel and recruit his
strength with rest and sleep. A few turns of the paddle quickly ran
the fish inshore, and leaping out he made it fast to a tree.
The beauty of this spot could scarcely have been excelled. The water
was perfectly pellucid. The palms and ferns on the shore grew in
clusters, and peculiar flowers covered the ground with a carpet that
was a perfect bronze, that being the prevailing colour. The air,
notwithstanding that it was very hot, was balmy and heavy with a
thousand perfumes. Lulled by the grateful fragrance, and the cheery
songs of the birds, Flin Flon sank into a sound sleep, from which he
did not awake for many hours. He was then surprised to find that
the glare had given place to a sort of beautiful twilight. The songs of
the birds were hushed, and a myriad voices of chirping insects had
taken their place. Fire-flies were everywhere. They flew over the
water until it seemed studded with reflected stars. They were in the
trees, and on the grass, and amongst the flowers. The sight was
wonderful. The clouds had lost their coloured light, but seemed to
give off a soft, silverlike radiance. Flin was puzzled about this. It was
evident some change had taken place, and it set him wondering,
until he at last concluded that night had settled upon this central
world, and he accounted for the change in this way.
The light of these inner regions was entirely due to electricity
passing through vapour —- or, in other words, clouds. These
electrical currents were affected by the changes of the upper earth,
and were stronger when the sun shone above, and consequently
gave off more light. But when the sun’s influence had been
withdrawn from the upper world, the currents of the central world
were less strong, and these changes marked the day and the night.
This will be better understood when it is remembered that the
electric forces permeated the whole globe, and those laws which
govern the outer part of the world must affect the inner part. Mr.
Flonatin subsequently proved this beyond dispute by observing that
the tides of the internal seas regularly ebbed and flowed. The
darkness —- though this is merely a conventional mode of speaking,
for the whole country seemed bathed in moonlight —- lasted some
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hours, then gradually the clouds became more brilliant, the silver
radiance gave place to gold and chrome, and a light as from a
tropical sun broke forth, and the air grew sultry. This effect was no
less beautiful then it was startling —- startling, because it was so
totally unexpected. Flin wondered how it was he had not observed
the same thing in the “Sea of Echoes,” and his theory was that the
space being less there and the power of the electric currents greater,
they were not affected in the same degree as here, where it was open
country. Moreover, when he came to remember it, some slight
change had taken place there, though he believed now that he had
slept through what was really the night, and so had been unable to
mark any very decided alteration in the light thrown off by the
clouds. Having breakfasted he cast off his moorings and continued
his journey. As he proceeded the river grew broader and the country
became more wooded with a stunted growth of trees, until he sailed
through miles and miles of dense jungle that was a mass of gold and
bronze. He saw silvery streams meandering through meadows of
delicate emerald grass. As he proceeded a bend in the river brought
him to an open plain of many miles in extent. This plain was
scattered all over with disrupted rocks, but they glittered like
burnished gold. Trees there were a few, but flowers or herbage there
were none. The whole place, in fact, seemed nothing but yellow
metal.
Flin steered his vessel into a little cove and sprang ashore, which was
not soft ground, but hard, solid metal. He stooped down to examine
what it was, and fairly gasped for breath as he discovered that it was
gold —- pure gold —- polished and worn smooth by the action of
water. He jumped up excitedly, and ran to the nearest boulder,
which weighed many tons. It was solid gold. The whole plain was
gold. Gold was everywhere. Flin almost staggered with
astonishment as he beheld the countless millions of tons which lay
around of that precious metal which was said to be “the root of all
evil” in the world he had left. If the whole wealth of the upper earth
had been collected together it would scarcely have been equivalent
to one of the boulders upon which at that moment Flin rested his
hand; and yet here there were millions of these boulders. In his
wildest imaginings he had never dreamt of such a thing as this. He
had often thought that down in the bowels of the earth there were
immense masses of gold; because mining operations had proved that
the richest gold-bearing strata are deep down. But that there were
solid fields of the precious metal scores of miles in extent had never
once occurred to him. As he surveyed this stupendous tract, and
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assuming that the gold was only two inches in depth —- though he
proved by the crevasses and fissures that it was many feet thick —-
he made a rough calculation that there was sufficient gold there to
pave the streets and roads of every large city and every town and
village in the United States, as well as to enable all the citizens to
build their houses with it, and even use it for all those purposes that
iron was then used for.
Mr. Flonatin was no hypocrite, and so he confesses that as he gazed
upon these fields of wealth he sighed with regret, and wished that he
could have found means to have reached the upper earth there and
then from the spot where he stood. As it was —- and knowing how
useless such wishes were —- he stooped down and filled his pockets
with pieces of the yellow dross. And then he ran down to his vessel
and procured a pillow- case and filled that. And the more he
procured the more he desired to have, and he clutched frantically at
the glittering lumps, and carried them on board, and stowed them in
every available spot. He spent hours in doing this, until he found
that the vessel was sinking so deep in the water as to be unsafe. But
he says that this did not trouble him. And at that moment —- he
records this with heartfelt sorrow —- he forgot everybody —-
everything —- even his glorious mission, in his mad wish to possess
himself of the wealth which was so lavishly scattered about. The
gold had suddenly become his god. He literally fell down and
worshipped it. He lifted up great lumps, and staggered so under
their weight that he was obliged to put them down again. And then
he almost wept because he could not convey them away. He stood in
a world of gold —- master of all —- and yet not a single grain of it
was of the slightest use to him then. On the contrary, it had a
positively evil effect. It corrupted his soul, it almost turned his brain.
His genial, pleasant face was distorted with a horrid, selfish
expression. And he writes that he firmly believes that if at that
moment there had been only one other human being there who had
attempted to have taken a single ounce of the metal he would have
dashed out his brains without one feeling of remorse or pity. Mr.
Flonatin is of opinion that he was not responsible for his acts at this
period of his journey. He thinks that he was literally mad, though it
was the only time that ever he was so in his life; and it subsequently
cost him many pangs of keen sorrow.
When he had crammed his pockets full of gold, and filled the
available space in his vessel with it, he cast off the moorings and left
the place with intense regret. Looking back every now and then his
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heart ached at being obliged to leave this wonderful region, and he
was frequently tempted to turn again. But he conquered this feeling
as he remembered that he had brought hundreds of thousands of
pounds’ worth of the stuff with him.
His pockets were bursting with it; he had filled his pillow-cases, the
lockers, the shelves, his own boxes, he had piled it up on the floor,
on the seats, everywhere in fact. And he watched it hour after hour,
and was fearful lest he might lose even a grain. Almost every sound
startled him. He thought somebody was coming to steal his hoards,
for he forgot at that time that he was down in the bowels of the
earth.
He neglected to take his meals, and even to snuff. His own life —-
his safety —- ;the objects of his journey —- everything gave place to
the one and all-absorbing thought of his suddenly-acquired wealth.
At last exhausted nature asserted itself, and, unmindful of where his
vessel was drifting to, he sank down upon the floor and fell into a
profound sleep.
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CHAPTER XIV
Of course Flin Flon woke after having had sufficient sleep, and he
rubbed his eyes, sat bolt upright, looked round in bewilderment, and
then cried —- “Where the deuce am I?”
He found himself in a vast hall which seemed to be built entirely of
pure gold, excepting the roof, which was composed of some highly-
polished timber, supported by massive pillars of gold. The floor was
formed of large squares of massive glass of different colours; or, at
anyrate, what at first seemed like glass; though Flin afterwards
discovered that these squares were slabs of garnet, rubies, emeralds,
amethysts, diamonds, and various other stones that he had hitherto
been in the habit of looking upon as “precious.”
But it was not the gold walls and pillars and floor of jewels that
astonished him just then. He was surrounded by a crowd of persons,
who were at once the most extraordinary beings he had ever seen,
and it was not to be wondered at that he thought he was dreaming.
They were small people with large heads and small bodies, and,
what was still more astounding, they had tails. Their features were
very prominent, and they had narrow foreheads and long hair that
hung down to their necks. In general appearance they were not
unlike what the gnomes are supposed to be. Seated on a sort of
throne was a person who was evidently the King. He had a long tail,
and on his head was a crown of tin.
Flin found that he himself was the object of much interest on the part
of the King and his Court, for he had little doubt that he was in one
of the Royal palaces of the Central Earth Dwellers. As this idea
occurred to him he rose to his feet and bowed low, for Flin was the
very acme of politeness.
“I trust your Majesty will pardon my seeming rudeness for having
sat so long in your presence,” he observed, “but I am a stranger and
a foreigner, and am quite ignorant as to how I came to be in your
Majesty’s presence.”
At this the people burst into a loud laugh. The King laughed louder
than the rest. Then they shook their heads as a sign that they did not
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comprehend him, and they conversed among themselves in a
language that was quite unintelligible to Flin.
Presently a grave-looking person stepped forward at the bidding of
the King. From his manner Mr. Flonatin took him to be one of the
Court physicians. He approached Flin and examined him very
minutely, especially his head and his back, and then, bowing with
his back towards the King, he addressed his Majesty as follows,
though Flin states that it would be impossible to convey any idea of
the correct way to pronounce this curious language; but he gives the
following phonetically: —-
“Tisrucco ot em ruoy ytsejam taht siht tsum eb emos suorobrab
egavas morf emos trap fo eht htrae hcihw ruoy ytsejam swonk ton
fo. Eht ecnesba fo a liat dluow dael em ot refni taht siht dehcterw
erutaerc tsum tneserper a ecar yltsav roirefni ot eht denethgilne
stcejbus fo ruoy s’ytsejam mlaer. Eno dluow tsomla kniht taht eh saw
